Cindy Szponder’s Tips

The book I’m currently reading, Publish & Prosper, not only has some great ideas to learn from, it also sparks new ideas for me as well. 

First off, why have a blog for your business? What’s in it for your business?

1. It’s easy and quick to get started. As I learned when I set up this blog, even setting up a blog on your own server is a relatively easy and painless process. It’s also quick to get a blog up and running–really. It’s even easier if you use Blogger.com or Wordpress.com. On either of those sites, you simply sign up and start blogging–absolutely no technical knowledge required. My preference for a business blog, however, would be to set it up on your own server. I chose to use Wordpress as my CMS and blog software. Give it a look at Wordpress.org and learn more at Wordpress Codex.
2. Adding and updating content is also easy. In most blogging software, to add content you simply fill out a title, add your comment/content and publish your post. Of course, good content is absolutely vital to bring visitors to your blog and to keep them coming back (or interested enough to sign up for your RSS or newsletter). You can also easily go back and edit what you’ve written, or delete it if you change your mind about publishing it.
3. It’s not expensive. You can actually get started for free on Blogger.com and Wordpress.com. If you want to, you can register a domain name and host it yourself--also not very expensive. The advantage to hosting the blog on your own domain is name recognition, and more flexibility/power in the blogging software.
4. RSS Feeds. Real Simple Syndication makes sure the word gets out about your blog and allows visitors to subscribe to your feed to stay up to date.
5. People like blogs. Their more fun and interactive than websites, allow comments (usually), and encourage participation and discussion. You can also get new business ideas or change business glitches based on the feedback from your readers.
6. Interaction with other bloggers. You can comment on related blogs and trackback to your own blog. Other bloggers can link to your blog, comment on your posts, and backtrack to your content. This encourages idea sharing and discussion (and search engine visits).
7. Search engines love blogs. This is the most important, vital reason blogging can be good for your business. But why do search engines love blogs? Because they’re updated frequently and have search friendly content. Blogs can even eventually outrank websites on the same topic simply because of current posts and activity versus website activity.

Second, is having a blog good for every business? Sometimes the answer is no. If you won’t have the time or interest to make posts, you shouldn’t have a blog. If the company you own or work for is very closed or highly regulated, you may not wish to consider having a blog.

Most businesses, however, whether conducted solely online or in the brick and mortar world can benefit from having a blog. What’s the best way to start? Get started. Start small. Start with a personal blog to learn how things work before starting a business blog. Just start.